Countries With Zika Virus: China Gets Second Case After US, South And Central America Outbreak

An aedes aegypti mosquito is pictured on a leaf in San Jose, Costa Rica on Feb. 1, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate/File Photo

A second case of Zika has surfaced in China, according to reports. A 56-year-old man, who recently returned to Hong Kong after traveling by himself to New York, Central America and areas in the Caribbean, was confirmed Monday to be suffering from Zika. The unidentified man was in stable condition at Hong Kong’s North District Hospital.

The man had been in New York and Central America between Oct. 13 and Nov. 8, after which he reportedly traveled to the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, St. Maarten and Anguilla. He returned to Hong Kong from New York on Thursday, and two days later he was admitted to North District Hospital after suffering from fever, rash and diarrhea. The man recalled being bitten by mosquitos during his stay in the Caribbean, and lab results later confirmed he was positive for Zika.

Officials said the man had not traveled much throughout China since his return aside from his home in Yan Shau Wai in San Tin and a trip to Sheung Shui on Saturday. However, a spokesperson from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said authorities would take extra measures to sterilize places visited by the patient to avoid further transmission, South China Morning Post reported.

The first person in China infected with Zika was reported when a 38-year-old woman returned to the country suffering from symptoms of joint pain and red eyes in late August. The woman came back to China following a trip to Saint-Barthelemy in the Caribbean.

The U.S. and several countries in South America and the Caribbean have the highest amount of reported Zika cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In the U.S., 139 cases of Zika acquired by local mosquitoes have been documented while there have been more than 31,000 locally acquired mosquito-borne cases of Zika documented in U.S. territories including American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than 4,000 cases involving Americans who were infected with Zika while traveling to countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean were documented between January 2015 and Nov. 9.

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